Astronaut Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, Bob Crippen,
the first space shuttle pilot, and former NASA administrator Mike
Griffin are among the eight space leaders who endorsed Republican
presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Friday, Space.com reported.

The men signed an open letter that explained why Romney is the candidate they most trust to rebuild the U.S. space program.

"Restoring the U.S. space program to greatness will require the
leadership, management skill, and commitment to American exceptionalism
possessed by only one candidate in this race: Mitt Romney," the letter
said, according to Space.com. "We support Mitt's candidacy and believe
that his approach to space policy will produce results instead of empty
promises."

Not only did GOP candidate Newt Gingrich and his proposed manned Moon
base apparently fail to impress them, but, they said, they had been
disappointed by President Barack Obama’s approach to space.

"We have watched with dismay as President Obama dismantled the
structure that was guiding both the government and commercial space
sectors, while providing no purpose or vision or mission," the group
wrote, according to Space.com. "This failure of leadership has thrust
the space program into disarray and triggered a dangerous erosion of our
technical workforce and capabilities. In short, we have a space program
unworthy of a great nation."

In a speech in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday, Romney said he doesn’t currently have a grand vision for the U.S. space program, the Washington Post reported.
However, he said, if elected, he would bring together the nation’s top
experts in government and the private sector to decide what its mission
should be.

“Before you make tough decisions, you start off by saying what’s the
objective?” Romney said, according to the Post. “And then you say what’s
the data and see what information you have. And then you create
hypotheses, to see what different choices might be, and then you choose
one… [and] you expect a leader to deliver and get it done.”

This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.

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In a speech in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday, Romney said he doesn’t currently have a grand vision for the U.S. space program, the Washington Post reported. However, he said, if elected, he would bring together the nation’s top experts in government and the private sector to decide what its mission should be.

“Before you make tough decisions, you start off by saying what’s the objective?” Romney said, according to the Post. “And then you say what’s the data and see what information you have. And then you create hypotheses, to see what different choices might be, and then you choose one… [and] you expect a leader to deliver and get it done.”

...according to Space.com. “We support Mitt’s candidacy and believe that his approach to space policy will produce results instead of empty promises.”

Huhnnhh?? What approach…sounds like the endorsement comes from their cerebral space…so they prefer empty thought to what they consider to be “empty promises”. Given that attitude, perhaps they have themselves to blame for lackluster vision justifying the expansion of the space program.

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